Main menu

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is feeling confident will he secure both the party nomination and the presidency, and also that he will expand the GOP’s hold over the U.S. by winning over swing states.

“I’ve been a closer all my life,” Trump told The Hill. “It’s what I do -- I win. Other people don’t win ... I close. Other people don’t close.”

The business mogul has some hard data to back up his confidence.

Despite being previously compared by pundits to 2012 presidential flameouts such as pizza magnate Herman Cain and Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, Trump’s campaign has entered 2016 firmly leading the GOP race, according to a Jan. 5 poll conducted by NBC News/SurveyMonkey.

Popular Video

A police officer saw a young black couple drive by and pulled them over. What he did next left them stunned:

Popular Video

A police officer saw a young black couple drive by and pulled them over. What he did next left them stunned:

Trump currently tops the GOP pack with 35 percent, his closest competitor Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas clocking in at 18 percent.

“When people say, ‘Why do you always talk about the polls?’ I say, ‘Because I’m winning!’” Trump boasted at a Jan. 5 rally in New Hampshire, according to WMUR. “Believe me, if I’m not winning, I don’t talk about them.”

Trump told the crowd he looks forward to facing current Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton in a presidential election, but noted that he needs to defeat his many GOP rivals first.

“I have to get rid of these other people first!” Trump said. “You have to get rid of them first, I like one thing at a time.”

Trump's success at the polls will finally be put to the test at the Iowa caucus on Feb. 1, when GOP primary voters will get their first chance at voting for a nominee.

“Iowa is important to me,” Trump told The Hill. “I’d love to win Iowa. To me, Iowa is very important.”

The current GOP front-runner also stated that he is more electable than his GOP rivals, predicting that he will win over voters in states that have not traditionally voted Republican.

“I will expand the map,” Trump said, singling out Pennsylvania and New York as states where he can put his theory to the test.

Former Secretary of State Clinton served as a senator in New York, marking the traditionally Democratic state as a pivotal one in a potential general election matchup between her and Trump.

Trump, a New York native, concluded that if he beats Clinton in that caucus, then the election “is over.”